Sejong tops nation in outside land ownership, not Seoul, with 60% held by non-residents

Of South Korea's 51.12 million registered residents last year, about 20.12 million people owned land — up 470,000, or 2.4 percent, from the previous year. People in their 60s accounted for 30 percent of all landowners, the largest share of any age group, while Sejong had the highest proportion of land held by non-residents of any city or province in the country.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport released the "Land Ownership Statistics as of End-2025" on Tuesday. The statistics are compiled annually based on land registry information from local governments nationwide and cover 39 categories, including breakdowns by gender, age, region, and land area and value for land held by individuals, households, corporations and unincorporated entities.

Although the number of landowners increased, the total area they held — 46,127 square kilometers, or 45.8 percent of all land nationwide — fell by 131 square kilometers, or 0.3 percent, compared with 2024.

Of 24.3 million registered households, 15.65 million, or 64.4 percent, owned land — an increase of 350,000 households, or 2.3 percent, from 2024. The average area owned per household, however, fell by 76 square meters, or 2.5 percent, to 2,947 square meters.

By age group, people in their 60s held the largest share of land area at 13,860 square kilometers, or 30 percent, followed by those in their 70s at 10,141 square kilometers (22 percent) and those in their 50s at 9,443 square kilometers (20.5 percent). By gender, men accounted for 54.3 percent of individual landowners and women 45.7 percent.

Among cities and provinces, Sejong had the highest share of land held by non-residents at 59.5 percent, followed by Gangwon Province at 50.8 percent, North Gyeongsang Province at 49.9 percent, North Chungcheong Province at 48.5 percent and South Jeolla Province at 45.9 percent. The national average for non-resident land ownership stood at 43.7 percent.

Corporate landholdings totaled 7,463 square kilometers, up 59 square kilometers, or 0.8 percent, from 2024. By land-use zone, agricultural and forestry areas accounted for the largest share at 2,443 square kilometers (32.7 percent), while by land category, forest land was the most common at 3,460 square kilometers (46.4 percent).

By area size, the largest number of corporate landholders owned plots of 1,000 to 5,000 square meters — 87,000 entities, or 23 percent — followed by those holding 10 to 50 square meters (72,000, or 18.9 percent) and 100 to 500 square meters (56,000, or 14.8 percent). By assessed value, the largest group held land worth 100 million won ($68,200) to 500 million won — 100,000 entities, or 26.3 percent — followed by those in the 1 billion to 5 billion won range (77,000, or 20.2 percent) and the 10 million to 50 million won range (55,000, or 14.4 percent).

Unincorporated entities — including clan associations, religious organizations and veterans' groups — held 7,823 square kilometers of land, roughly unchanged from the previous year. Agricultural and forestry areas made up the largest share by land-use zone at 4,446 square kilometers (56.8 percent), while forest land dominated by land category at 7,228 square kilometers (92.4 percent).

By area size, the largest number of unincorporated landholders owned plots of 1,000 to 5,000 square meters — 53,000 entities, or 23 percent — followed by those holding 10,000 to 50,000 square meters (47,000, or 20.7 percent) and 100 to 500 square meters (39,000, or 17.2 percent). By assessed value, the largest group held land worth 10 million to 50 million won — 65,000 entities, or 28.7 percent — followed by those in the 100 million to 500 million won range (63,000, or 27.4 percent) and the 50 million to 100 million won range (34,000, or 14.8 percent).